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The U.S. is set to share its surplus vaccine doses for the first time (hell yeah) and fulfill President Biden’s 100 day vaccination promise weeks early (hell yeah), but a quick glance over at Europe is enough to drive home the reality that the coronavirus threat isn’t over (...yeah, hell).
- The Biden administration is finalizing a plan to send millions of the AstraZeneca vaccine doses currently gathering dust in U.S. warehouses to Canada and Mexico, which have already authorized that shot. Both American and Mexican officials have rejected suggestions that the vaccine loan was somehow contingent on Mexico helping to address the surge of migrants at the border; White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday that the two discussions were “unrelated” but “overlapping.”
- Soon-to-be AstraZeneca recipients on all continents will be glad to know that E.U. regulators have officially cleared its name, sort of! The European Medicines Agency declared the vaccine safe, effective, and not associated with an increased risk of blood clots, but said that the committee couldn’t definitively rule out a link in extremely rare cases of an unusual, serious clotting issue. Hours after the announcement, French Prime Minister Jean Castex said his country would resume les jabs.
- Not a moment too soon: The WHO said on Thursday that Europe’s vaccine rollout has been too slow to tamp down coronavirus transmission, as another devastating surge takes hold. Some countries had eased lockdowns and safety restrictions under the misapprehension that vaccinations would drive down cases immediately, costing lives: Europe recorded more than 1.2 million new infections last week, and more people in the region are dying from coronavirus now than a year ago.
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Across the Atlantic, U.S. health officials are trying to draw public attention to what could happen if we lose the race against the variants.
- On the one hand, the American vaccine rollout is in far better shape. President Biden announced that the country is poised to hit his goal of 100 million shots in 100 days on Friday, just 58 days into his term. (The lucky recipient of the 100 millionth vaccine dose wins all-you-can-eat vaccines for life.) On the other hand, the number of new cases has stopped declining, and 15 states have seen cases begin to creep up.
- Health officials have been warning themselves hoarse about how it’s still too early to let our guard down, but behaviors are changing anyway: Air travel numbers have hit new pandemic records, spring breakers have converged on Florida, and governors across the country have begun relaxing restrictions on businesses and gatherings. Thanks to vaccinations among vulnerable populations, there’s reason to think that another surge would result in fewer hospitalizations and deaths than we’ve seen before, but with just a few weeks left until vaccines are available to all, why open the door to any more unnecessary suffering?
A kind of normalcy is tantalizingly close, and the Biden administration has managed to bring it considerably closer. We may still make it there without another major crisis (knock on vaccine truck), but unless state and local leaders prioritize vigilance, things could get ugly again before they get better.
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The latest season of Ana Marie Cox’s show With Friends Like These is all about forgiveness and reconciliation. In Friday (TOMORROW)'s episode, Ana speaks with New York Magazine's Rebecca Traister on Andrew Cuomo's reckoning and broadening our understanding of what sexual harassment and abuse look like. Listen and subscribe to With Friends Like These on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts →
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A former AT&T lawyer says the company deliberately overcharged needy schools for internet service, like some kind of futuristic Charles Dickens villain. As an in-house lawyer at the company, Theodore Marcus came to believe that AT&T was ignoring the rules of E-Rate, a federal program set up to offer low-priced phone and internet service to schools and libraries in need. The program requires that telecom companies charge the “lowest corresponding price,” or, no more than what similar customers pay. Marcus has alleged that AT&T systematically failed to comply, resulting in E-Rate turning away hundreds of school districts that otherwise could have received funding. He left AT&T after first raising concerns internally, then passing his findings to a lawyer suing the company. AT&T has now accused Marcus of “shocking” legal misconduct and argued that the whole case should be dismissed, and the case now hinges on whether the judge views Marcus as a whistleblower, or a lawyer who’s violated his obligations to a former employer.
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- Here’s what we know about the victims of the Atlanta shootings so far. Four of the victims have been identified as Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, Xiaojie Tan, and Daoyou Feng. Police haven’t yet released the names of four other victims, all of whom were Asian women. The sole survivor, Elcias R. Hernandez-Ortiz, was still hospitalized as of Thursday.
- House Democrats held the first congressional hearing on anti-Asian discrimination in three decades, during which Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) used his time to rail against China and glorify lynchings, and Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) forcefully confronted him over Republicans “putting a bull's eye on the back of Asian Americans across this country, on our grandparents, on our kids."
- The Senate has narrowly confirmed Xavier Becerra as HHS secretary, and far less narrowly confirmed Williams Burns as CIA director.
- A Texas man was arrested outside Vice President Kamala Harris’s official residence on Wednesday, and police found that he had a rifle and a large amount of ammunition in his car parked several miles away. Fortunately Harris was in no immediate danger, as she continues to reside at Blair House while the Naval Observatory undergoes renovations and traps creeps.
- Vladimir Putin has recalled Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. after President Biden called Putin “a killer” in an interview that aired Wednesday.
- Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) has called up support from Black leaders and elected officials amid deafening calls for his resignation.
- Twelve House Republicans voted against awarding Congressional Gold Medals to recognize the Capitol Police officers who protected them from the violent mob they helped incite on January 6.
- A woman has accused Armie Hammer of violently raping her in 2017. Los Angeles police confirmed they’ve been investigating her allegations.
- The first large-scale study on coronavirus reinfection found that the vast majority of people who contract coronavirus have immunity for at least six months, but that people over 65 are much more vulnerable to repeat infection.
- Teen Vogue’s newly-appointed editor-in-chief Alexi McCammond has resigned days before she was scheduled to start in the role, after Teen Vogue staff members vehemently objected to anti-Asian tweets she had posted as a teenager.
- The New York Times has given up on trying to control its NYT Cooking group on Facebook and will abandon it the howling forces of internet entropy. A rare instance of Not Enough Cooks.
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A white nationalist who met with Peter Thiel was deeply immersed in white supremacist literature, and has served as a bridge between “mainstream” white nationalists and the hardcore extremists. Kevin DeAnna, who met with Thiel in the middle of the 2016 election cycle, wrote for white-nationalist publications under pseudonyms for over a decade, citing texts like SIEGE and The Turner Diaries. SIEGE has become a central text for neo-Nazi terrorist organizations, while The Turner Diaries has influenced some of the country’s most infamous domestic terror attacks, including the Oklahoma City bombing. At the same time, DeAnna was working for mainstream DC institutions and bumping elbows with government officials: Six weeks before meeting with Thiel, DeAnna discussed recruiting for a white-nationalist group with State Department official Matthew Gebert. Anyway, Thiel is now pouring money into White Grievance Spokesman J.D. Vance’s potential Senate run, positioning himself as a bridge between violent white-supremacist ideology and the levers of power.
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Abortion is essential, time-sensitive health care, and no one should have to risk needless exposure to a deadly virus to access it. That’s why we’re urging the Biden-Harris administration to address harms perpetrated by Trump – and expand access to abortion for all. Join us in urging the administration to take action now. Sign our petition.
While rates of COVID-19 infection soared across the country, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to reinstate a dangerous requirement that patients travel in person to pick up mifepristone – a safe and effective medication used for early abortion and miscarriage treatment. As a result, patients must risk needless exposure to the virus to access care.
This is particularly harmful for people of color and people with low incomes, who make up the majority of impacted patients and are also dying from COVID-19 at disproportionate rates due to centuries of structural racism and inequities.
The decision was cruel and indefensible, but also fixable. Sign the ACLU’s petition and demand that the Biden Administration ensure safe access to abortion today.
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The House has passed the American Dream and Promise Act, which would provide a path to citizenship for millions of DREAMers, and is set to pass the Farm Workforce Modernization Act later on Thursday.
The Biden administration announced that students who were defrauded by for-profit schools will have their federal loans fully erased.
The EPA has relaunched its website dedicated to providing information on climate change, after the Trump administration scrubbed it.
Oh this? Just an incredibly cool photo of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland being sworn in.
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